Following K. Pomian’s theories on the transformations of historical knowledge, the aim of this article is to show that if 19th century historians do confirm that there is no knowledge of the past but instrumental, still they had to re-establish symbolic forms of direct contact with the past. As a result, intellectual and sensitive eloquence (the former underlining the elaboration of the material and construction of the facts, and the latter being conveyed through pathos and ekphrasis) come together in their writings thus forming original techniques of representation that, on various levels, are different from mimesis.